The film, combined with the theater, makes for a genuinely fresh look at one of the most important battles of the 20th century.

Whether flying through a German bomber formation with a British Spitfire, or looking out over the D-Day invasion fleet, D-Day: Normandy 1944 in 3-D is riveting.

I made the trip Saturday down to the IMAX theatre at World Golf Village to see it.

Combining nearly life-like 3-D recreations and original footage and photographs, the experience is definitely worth taking in. In fact, one of the only drawbacks is its short run-time of 40 minutes that left me wanting more.

The film opens with an aerial view of some of France’s World War II cemeteries and provides a brief context of the years leading up to D-Day including the ill-fated, largely Canadian and British invasion of Dieppe in 1942.

What follows is a large-scale view of the invasion that spends just as much time and attention to Gold, Juno and Sword beaches as on Utah and Omaha — something that proved a mild disappointment to me.

However, it did provide a good overall framework of the objectives of all the allied forces and how they worked together.

In addition to the successes of D-Day, the film also did a good job of mentioning the aspects of the invasion that didn’t go as planned. The off-target bombing raids of the beaches that were supposed to give landing forces “ready made foxholes” and the badly scattered drops of paratroopers were both examined.

The digital recreation of the allied landing force was a breathtaking site and made me wonder how German troops stationed at beach fortifications didn’t just abandon their posts and head for the hills.

However, the film also went to fairly extensive lengths to illustrate the German defenses developed by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, including mines, bunkers and artillery, that must have reassured the Nazis of their ability to hold Fortress Europe.

The air power that played such a crucial role in the allied victory was shown by allowing the audience to travel with American P-51 Mustangs as they attacked bridges and German tanks. In digital 3-D, it was something.

Tom Brokaw’s narration, no matter what you think of his journalism, adds a legitimacy and authority to the film. His work on the subject, including his book The Greatest Generation, has been magnificent.

Though a lack of actual combat footage and its short run-time may prove a slight disappointment to some, the film is definitely worth seeing and could help keep younger audiences more involved than the more traditional black-and-white footage.

That may be the true strength of this film, giving those who don’t usually go for war documentaries a much-needed glimpse into the bravery and heroism of one of the most pivotal battles of the 20th century.